muscle tension Archives - Somatic Movement Center https://somaticmovementcenter.com/category/muscle-tension/ Discover the secret to living pain-free. Mon, 21 Apr 2025 20:35:20 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 How Does Fascia Affect Our Pain and Mobility? https://somaticmovementcenter.com/fascia-mobility-pain/ Thu, 11 Jul 2024 14:24:51 +0000 https://somaticmovementcenter.com/?p=17657 How Does Fascia Affect Our Pain and Mobility? If you have musculoskeletal pain or mobility issues, you may have been told that your fascia is tight or that you have fascial adhesions. While this may be true, problems with fascia are most often the result of how we're moving and using our body. In [...]

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]]> Is Magnesium Deficiency Contributing to Your Muscle Tension, Pain, or Fatigue? https://somaticmovementcenter.com/magnesium-deficiency-pain-muscle-tension-migraines-fibromyalgia/ Thu, 14 Mar 2024 14:01:53 +0000 https://somaticmovementcenter.com/?p=17567 Is Magnesium Deficiency Contributing to Your Muscle Tension, Pain, or Fatigue? Sometimes, despite all your efforts to release tension and relieve pain with pandiculation, you may get to a point where you feel like something else is going on. There may be some other factor besides learned muscular patterns that's causing your tension and [...]

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]]> How to Release Neck & Shoulder Tension with Clinical Somatics Exercises https://somaticmovementcenter.com/neck-and-shoulder-tension/ Fri, 10 Nov 2023 11:28:17 +0000 https://somaticmovementcenter.com/?p=17243 How to Release Neck & Shoulder Tension with Clinical Somatics Exercises Tension in the neck and shoulders is one of the most common issues I hear about from students. Between the stress we experience in our daily lives and the repetitive activities that most of us do every day, it's difficult to avoid building [...]

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]]> Learning to Relax After Four Decades of Chronic Tension by Lena Pollack https://somaticmovementcenter.com/learning-to-relax-after-four-decades-of-chronic-tension-by-lena-pollack/ Thu, 17 Mar 2022 14:05:22 +0000 https://somaticmovementcenter.com/?p=15685 Learning to Relax After Four Decades of Chronic Tension by Lena Pollack Every time I get a tensed muscle to relax, it’s like a little miracle. It leaves me awestruck, much like being chosen by a shelter cat, or finding a beautiful field that’s completely empty. Maybe it isn’t anything objectively earth shattering but getting [...]

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]]> What Really Causes Muscle Cramps? https://somaticmovementcenter.com/what-really-causes-muscle-cramps/ Tue, 25 May 2021 17:07:21 +0000 https://somaticmovementcenter.com/?p=12943 What really causes muscle cramps? Muscle cramps have long been attributed to electrolyte depletion and dehydration, especially when they occur in athletes. However, research does not support these theories, and instead points to altered neuromuscular control and muscle fatigue as the culprits. In this post, I'll summarize the research and explain why muscle cramps [...]

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]]> What is the Stretch Reflex (Myotatic Reflex)? https://somaticmovementcenter.com/stretch-reflex-myotatic-reflex/ Fri, 15 Jan 2021 16:49:06 +0000 https://somaticmovementcenter.com/?p=11902 You can listen to Sarah's podcast on this topic here: What is the stretch reflex (myotatic reflex)? From a young age, we’re taught that stretching is a necessary part of any workout routine. If we’re involved in sports or physical training, we stretch to warm up, cool down, and during breaks to help [...]

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]]> How Muscles Contract in Scoliosis C Curve https://somaticmovementcenter.com/muscle-contraction-in-scoliosis-c-curve/ Fri, 20 Nov 2020 16:05:52 +0000 https://somaticmovementcenter.com/?p=13146 How Muscles Contract in Scoliosis C Curve Learn how chronic, involuntary muscle contraction pulls the spine into a C curve, and how muscles on the opposite side of the spine contract to stabilize posture. Click here to watch this video in Spanish. Click here to watch this video in French. [...]

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]]> How Muscular Learning Leads to Pain and Degeneration https://somaticmovementcenter.com/muscular-learning/ Mon, 09 Nov 2020 18:28:45 +0000 http://www.somaticmovementcenter.com/?p=6627 How Muscular Learning Leads to Pain and Degeneration Chronic pain is invisible, and can be all too easily ignored by people who haven’t experienced it. But if you suffer from chronic pain, you understand the stress, helplessness, depression, and fatigue that accompany it. You might deal with financial hardship as a result of missed [...]

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]]> How to Get Your Inactive Muscles to Wake Up and Fire https://somaticmovementcenter.com/activate-muscles/ Wed, 27 May 2020 13:56:01 +0000 https://somaticmovementcenter.com/?p=14051 How to Get Your Inactive Muscles to Wake Up and Fire People often ask me how to strengthen or “activate” weak or inactive muscles. Well, there's a difference between weak and inactive, and it's important to understand this difference. Do you feel like you can't get a certain muscle group to “fire” no matter [...]

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]]> Chronic Tension in Facial Muscles Can Keep You Stuck in Stress and Emotions https://somaticmovementcenter.com/facial-muscles/ Thu, 02 Apr 2020 14:15:15 +0000 https://somaticmovementcenter.com/?p=13738 Chronic Tension in Facial Muscles Can Keep You Stuck in Stress and EmotionsIf you've ever watched the TV show Lie To Me, you know that people automatically express their emotions through their facial expressions, whether they want to or not. Our nervous system is hardwired to contract our mimetic muscles (facial muscles) in certain patterns [...]

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]]> Figuring out the Cause of Your Chronic Neck Pain https://somaticmovementcenter.com/neck-pain/ Wed, 11 Dec 2019 15:25:40 +0000 https://somaticmovementcenter.com/?p=13372 Figuring out the Cause of Your Chronic Neck Pain Why is neck pain such a pain in the neck to get rid of? First, the muscles in your neck adapt to any postural imbalances you have in the core of your body. If your lumbar or thoracic spine is out of alignment in any [...]

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]]> How to Even out the Imbalances in Your Body https://somaticmovementcenter.com/imbalances-body/ Wed, 30 Oct 2019 14:24:40 +0000 https://somaticmovementcenter.com/?p=13167 How to Even out the Imbalances in Your Body Scroll down to watch this video on Youtube We all have imbalances in the patterns of muscle tension between our right and left sides; that's because of how we use the dominant side of our body differently than our non-dominant side. These imbalanced muscular patterns [...]

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]]> Unlocking Your Body: Your Personal Process of Releasing Tension and Pain https://somaticmovementcenter.com/unlocking-your-body/ Mon, 24 Jun 2019 19:26:46 +0000 https://somaticmovementcenter.com/?p=12139 Unlocking Your Body: Your Personal Process of Releasing Tension and Pain Many people ask me how long it will take them to release their chronic tightness or get out of pain. I wish I could answer this question, but the truth is that everyone's patterns of muscular tension and pain are so unique that [...]

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]]> What is the Gamma Loop? https://somaticmovementcenter.com/gamma-loop/ Mon, 29 Apr 2019 18:06:04 +0000 https://somaticmovementcenter.com/?p=11806 You can listen to Sarah's podcast on this topic here: What is the gamma loop? The gamma loop (also referred to as the alpha-gamma loop) is a feedback loop in our nervous system that regulates the level of tension in our muscles. The way the gamma loop works can get a little confusing, [...]

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]]> The Anatomy of Your Tension Headache https://somaticmovementcenter.com/anatomy-tension-headache/ Sun, 07 Apr 2019 16:33:25 +0000 https://somaticmovementcenter.com/?p=11654 The Anatomy of Your Tension Headache If you're reading this post, you may be one of the 45 million Americans who suffer from chronic headaches. Headaches are one of the most frustrating pain conditions because the causes are so varied and can seem completely mysterious. In fact, over 150 different types of headache have [...]

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]]> The Life-Changing Link Between Anxiety and Muscle Tension https://somaticmovementcenter.com/anxiety-muscle-tension/ Wed, 03 Apr 2019 15:27:11 +0000 https://somaticmovementcenter.com/?p=11618 You can listen to Sarah's podcast on this topic here: The Life-Changing Link Between Anxiety and Muscle Tension Anxiety is thought of as a psychological disorder, but it actually involves many systems of the body. Anxiety is a true “somatic” condition: It is typically brought on and made worse not by any external source [...]

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]]> Chronic Muscle Soreness: The Cause and Cure https://somaticmovementcenter.com/chronic-muscle-soreness/ Mon, 02 May 2016 16:21:49 +0000 http://www.somaticmovementcenter.com/?p=6766 Chronic Muscle Soreness: The Cause and Cure Chronic muscle soreness is, quite literally, a pain to live with. Often, no amount of stretching, massage, heat, ice, or ibuprofen can provide much lasting relief. To understand the cause of chronic muscle soreness, we need to start by examining what's happening inside our muscles when they're actively [...]

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